The same 10th Circuit Court of Appeals judges who heard Utah's similar case last week spent much of the 40-minute hearing questioning the plaintiffs' right to sue the Tulsa County court clerk who refused to grant Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin a marriage license. Though it came up briefly last week in the Utah hearing, it isn't at issue in that case.

Should the three-judge panel conclude the appellate court can't intervene, the case could be sent back to the district court, which has already happened once in Oklahoma. The judges could also affirm or reverse a district court's ruling that struck down the state's gay marriage ban.

Aside from the issue of standing, attorneys for both sides touched on some of the same arguments lawyers in the Utah case made for and against same-sex marriage last Thursday. Judges, too, pursued some of the same paths but to a lesser degree.

Public interest seemed to have waned as well. There were a few empty seats in the gallery and far less media attention than a week ago. Opposing counsel in the Utah case, Gene Schaerr and Peggy Tomsic, were among the crowd.

Jim Campbell, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom, thanked Schaerr after the hearing for a last-minute quote that he inserted into his argument. Schaerr declined to comment.

Campbell, who represents Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith, said he hopes the judges will "allow Oklahomans to write their own history on the future of marriage."

The couples said they believe they have justice and history on their side and no amount of tradition can overcome that.

"There is no reason that we as Oklahomans should be treated any differently than any other Oklahoman," Bishop said.

In court, Campbell argued that Oklahoma has the right to define marriage as between a man and a woman, and voters did so with a state constitutional amendment. He also said a man-woman marriage is the best environment to rear children.

"The state cannot define marriage in any way that it wants and trample on individual rights, right?" Judge Jerome Holmes asked.

District court judges in both the Utah and Oklahoma cases found that the states' voter-passed laws defining marriage violate equal protection guarantees under the Constitution.

As he did last week, Holmes compared denying marriage based on gender to denying it based on race.

Campbell contends that the U.S. Supreme Court has always treated racial and gender discrimination differently. He said the Oklahoma marriage law "treats men and women the same."

Judge Carlos Lucero again said he was concerned about children of gay married couples, asking "Are they recognized as legitimate children or not?"

Under Oklahoma law, same-sex couples can't adopt children. But Campbell acknowledged that if a same-sex couple legally adopts children in another state and moves to Oklahoma, they would be recognized.

"Doesn't that undermine all of your arguments about the fact that children should be raised by a mother and a father?" Lucero asked.

Dennis Romboy is a reporter for Deseret News where for the past 20 years he has covered a variety of beats including state and local government, human services and the 2002 Olympics. He spent six years as a special more ..